Saturday, July 25, 2009

I have put this painting on Ebay. I haven't goneas far as opening an Ebay store yet, but it isin the works. To bid on this piece click on the"My Ebay Store" link in the Links section foundon the right side of the blog. I have solicitedhelp from other Ebayers and willget the kinks worked out this week.

Friday, July 24, 2009

You can tell its hot here in Texas bythe things I choose to paint. Water, snowor anything that will get my mind off howhot it is outside.

On my last trip to Estes Parkmy good friend, Bruce Peil, and I hiked upto Loche Vale. On the way were a series ofrunoffs with waterfalls. Not as dramatic asI made this one to be, but waterfalls just the same.

I could sit on the rocks and just listen to thesound of the rushing water all day. It issuch a cerebral experience compared to the restof the time I spend painting in Texas.

This is one of the three barns I paintedlast week. I painted this barn from the otherside as well. On the other side is a fieldof fresh hay bales and as anyone knows, haybales have become a favorite subjectmatter of mine. I'll post the other paintingssoon.

This one took longer than expected, almost three hoursinstead of the two hours I will usually commit to aplein air piece. I will typically steer away from a scenethat has this many elements in it. I try to limitplein air work to three elements. This one has fiveand that pushes the limit of my comfort zone.There's a lot of architecture and that just takes longerthan other types of landscapes, plus I paintedit on a larger scale, 12" x 16" instead my standard9" x 12". All-in-all I was uncomfortable the whole time Iwas painting it, but in the end I'm glad I stuck to itand finished the piece.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Spent the morning doing field sketches of barns.Came back in the studio and needed to do a warmup before jumping into a larger studio piece. Limited myself to a 30 minute still life. I likenthese to the gesture poses we used to doin life drawing back in college. They getthe juices flowing and before doing a studiopiece, helps loosen me up because the studiowork gets too tight too quick.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

"Chasm Falls" 10" x 20'I can thank Steve Atkinson,www.steveatkinsonstudio.blogspot.com,for giving me the appropriate kick in the buttto get this painting done. I've had it sketchedout on a canvas and sitting in the cornerof the studio for about six months. During thesummers when its 106 degrees outsideand I'm stuck inside doing paintings ofapples, I get the doldrums and don't feel muchlike painting. Steve comes along and postshis painting "Simple Beauty" on his blog andit just blows me away.

Next thing you know I've got "Chasm Falls" onthe easel and two hours later....done. Steve'spainting of an aspen grove probably in theRocky Mountains somewhere reminded me ofmy trips to Estes Park and that's all it tookto snap me out of the summer funk. I'vealready got three more paintings sketchedout and can't wait to get started.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

I've gotten back into doing dailies. Thesesmall paintings are really helping mewith brushwork and seeing colors inshadows. When painting outdoors, especiallyon a bright day, your iris of the eyes tendto close down because of the bright reflectionscoming off the ground. Seeing colors inthe shadows becomes difficult so I tend tooverdo these areas. Then back in the studioor, worse yet, when framed and hung inthe gallery the colors jump off the canvaswhen you really want them to be more subdued.

Brushwork is a constant fight between not enoughand too much. I'm finding the dailies painted in30 minutes or less force me to make betterbrushwork decisions. Now I'm anxious tofind out if I can carry this over into the pleinair work first and then the bigger canvases.

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My history

Landscapes are my passion but an occassional still life will capture my imagination.
I was born in Texas, lived here all my life. I've imagined living in Colorado or Arizona, but my heart and soul is Texan through and through.
I hold a Masters degree in medical illustration and am a Fellow of the Association of Medical Illustrators. Medical illustration is a highly technical, skills intensified occupation where education through illustration is the driving force behind every painting. Nowadays everything is digital and I work mostly in Photoshop. Getting into my studio to push oil paint around is a blessing.